Eating a slowly roasted pork belly, oozing unctuous goodness, with perfectly crisp crackling, makes me feel very, very happy. I almost always brine my pork belly a day ahead of cooking it. As well as allowing you to add flavours that penetrate deep into the meat, brining ensures that the end product is always super–moist. I highly recommend you give it a go.

Using a sharp knife, score the skin of the pork belly as finely as you can, being careful not to cut into the flesh too much. You just want to open the surface of the skin, and the closer the scoring, the better the crackling will be – you could ask your butcher to do this for you.

In a container large enough to hold the belly, put the salt, paprika, star anise, fennel seeds and bay leaves. Pour in enough cold water to cover the pork and whisk to dissolve the salt. Place the pork in the brine skin–side down and leave in the fridge to soak for at least 24 hours (up to 36). If you do not have the time to brine the belly in this way, simply grind the spices and bay leaves in a coffee grinder or spice mill and add three tablespoons of salt. Mix together and then rub the mixture over the belly. Marinate for 12 hours and roast as below.

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Remove the pork from the brine, rinse and pat dry. Place the potatoes in a roasting tin, rest the belly on top, skin–side up, pour in 200ml of water and then place in an oven preheated to 140C/gas mark 1. Roast for one and a half to two hours. The timing will depend on the thickness of the pork, but it will take at least this long. It is ready when a fork pushed into the flesh comes away easily.

When the pork is done, crank up your oven to 200C/gas mark 6 and cook for a further eight to 10 minutes. This should make the crackling crisp. A trick we use at the restaurant when the crackling refuses to behave is to heat up a little oil in a heavy–bottomed frying–pan. When it is hot, lay the belly in it skin–side down and it will puff up. If the surface of the crackling is uneven, just press down where it is not touching the pan. Leave the pork to rest for 15 minutes, then carve and serve with the potatoes and the chutney.

Hamish Anderson's wine choice 2010 Domaine Houchart Rosé, Cótes de Provence, France £6.95, the Wine Society (thewinesociety.com). Rosé can get pigeonholed as an aperitif; we can forget that it is a versatile food wine. There is mouth–watering acidity here to counter the sticky pork, while the red fruit character is more sharp redcurrants than sweet strawberries, and thus ideal for the tart chutney.

Cox's apple, sour cherry and fennel chutney makes 2 jars

90g dried sour cherries, soaked overnight in apple juice 1kg Cox's apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped 2 fennel bulbs, finely sliced across (a mandoline is very good for this) 1 red onion, cut in half and sliced lengthways, from the root end to the top 100g fresh ginger, finely grated 1 red chilli, finely sliced into rings 2 tsp fennel seeds 2 tsp coriander seeds 3 star anise 250g demerara sugar 400ml cider vinegar Put everything in a roasting dish, cover with foil and place in an oven preheated to 160C/gas mark 3. Cook for an hour, stirring once or twice, then remove the foil and continue to cook for 30 to 40 minutes. The chutney should be glossy and slightly caramelised, with a nice syrupy consistency. Cook for longer if necessary.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Spoon into sterilised jars, cover and refrigerate. It will last for several months in the fridge. This chutney is delicious with roast pork or a good cheddar and some homemade oatcakes.